Updated kernel packages that fix multiple security issues and various bugsare now available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.

The Red Hat Security Response Team has rated this update as having lowsecurity impact. Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) base scores,which give detailed severity ratings, are available for each vulnerabilityfrom the CVE links in the References section.

* An information leak was found in the Linux kernel's POSIX signalsimplementation. A local, unprivileged user could use this flaw to bypassthe Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR) security feature.(CVE-2013-0914, Low)

* A heap-based buffer overflow in the way the tg3 Ethernet driver parsedthe vital product data (VPD) of devices could allow an attacker withphysical access to a system to cause a denial of service or, potentially,escalate their privileges. (CVE-2013-1929, Low)

This update also fixes the following bugs:

* Previously on system boot, devices with associated Reserved Memory RegionReporting (RMRR) information had lost their RMRR information after theywere removed from the static identity (SI) domain. Consequently, a systemunexpectedly terminated in an endless loop due to unexpected NMIs triggeredby DMA errors. This problem was observed on HP ProLiant Generation 7 (G7)and 8 (Gen8) systems. This update prevents non-USB devices that have RMRRinformation associated with them from being placed into the SI domainduring system boot. HP ProLiant G7 and Gen8 systems that contain deviceswith the RMRR information now boot as expected. (BZ#957606)

* Previously, the kernel's futex wait code used timeouts that hadgranularity in milliseconds. Also, when passing these timeouts to systemcalls, the kernel converted the timeouts to "jiffies". Consequently,programs could time out inaccurately which could lead to significantlatency problems in certain environments. This update modifies the futexwait code to use a high-resolution timer (hrtimer) so the timeoutgranularity is now in microseconds. Timeouts are no longer converted to"jiffies" when passed to system calls. Timeouts passed to programs are nowaccurate and the programs time out as expected. (BZ#958021)

* A recent change modified the size of the task_struct structure in thefloating point unit (fpu) counter. However, on Intel Itanium systems, thischange caused the kernel Application Binary Interface (kABI) to stopworking properly when a previously compiled module was loaded, resulting ina kernel panic. With this update the change causing this bug has beenreverted so the bug can no longer occur. (BZ#966878)

* The cxgb4 driver previously did not clear data structures used forfirmware requests. Consequently, when initializing some Chelsio'sTerminator 4 (T4) adapters, a probe request could fail because the requestwas incompatible with the adapter's firmware. This update modifies thecxgb4 driver to properly initialize firmware request structures beforesending a request to the firmware and the problem no longer occurs.(BZ#971872)

Users should upgrade to these updated packages, which contain backportedpatches to correct these issues. The system must be rebooted for thisupdate to take effect.

4. Solution:

Before applying this update, make sure all previously released erratarelevant to your system have been applied.

To install kernel packages manually, use "rpm -ivh [package]". Do notuse "rpm -Uvh" as that will remove the running kernel binaries fromyour system. You may use "rpm -e" to remove old kernels afterdetermining that the new kernel functions properly on your system.